Many people don’t enjoy camping because they miss their home comforts. I
believe that one of the great things about camping is that it makes you
appreciate your home comforts even more and makes you realise some of the
things that you don’t really need. Now, I am not all for the glamping style of
camping but there are a few comforts that are essential while still keeping it
simple. I still want to enjoy myself while camping and not spend the whole trip
wishing I had something from home.
I have recently put a little thought into our sleeping equipment for our
camping trips (our mattress and bedding more specifically) and have wondered if
we are doing things the best way. For many years, we have been using a blow-up
mattress and sleeping bags but for our type of camping are these the best?
Since we have started camping more often these two essentials have been
on my mind. We are also not doing hikes with our mattress and sleeping bags so
the size and weight are not that much of an issue - more comfort.
The blow-up mattress:
A blow-up mattress is fairly comfortable but the biggest issue is if you accidently put it down on a thorn or sharp object you can very easily puncture it, then you have no mattress and that make for a miserable camping experience. I have camped on no mattress and on the thin roll out foam mattresses and after a terrible night's sleep, woken with bruises on both my hips - not a lot of fun! So, I looked into alternatives to the blow-up mattress and I found two things: either people say that other than getting a real mattress the blow up one is one of the more comfortable options; or the thinner, lighter, just as comfortable options are hellishly expensive. Since we already own a blow-up mattress we have decided to stick with it. When we did our recent long camping trip in August/September this year I was concerned about being cold as an air mattress does not insulate well from the cold ground. Again, I did a little bit of looking around the internet for solutions and there are many but a lot of them are clumsy or bulky (newspaper under the mattress/ foam squares etc). So again, not wanting to spend too much money but wanting something that was as little hassle as possible, I decided to insulate our mattress with a sheepskin-fleece-jacket-type material and made a “pillowcase” for the mattress. The fleece cover worked well and also protects the mattress from small thorns or other small sharp objects. On the nights when it was below freezing we just added another fleece blanket over the mattress and we were lovely and warm and so comfortable. When it came time to pack up, we let down the mattress and folded it up with the cover still on it - nice and simple!
A blow-up mattress is fairly comfortable but the biggest issue is if you accidently put it down on a thorn or sharp object you can very easily puncture it, then you have no mattress and that make for a miserable camping experience. I have camped on no mattress and on the thin roll out foam mattresses and after a terrible night's sleep, woken with bruises on both my hips - not a lot of fun! So, I looked into alternatives to the blow-up mattress and I found two things: either people say that other than getting a real mattress the blow up one is one of the more comfortable options; or the thinner, lighter, just as comfortable options are hellishly expensive. Since we already own a blow-up mattress we have decided to stick with it. When we did our recent long camping trip in August/September this year I was concerned about being cold as an air mattress does not insulate well from the cold ground. Again, I did a little bit of looking around the internet for solutions and there are many but a lot of them are clumsy or bulky (newspaper under the mattress/ foam squares etc). So again, not wanting to spend too much money but wanting something that was as little hassle as possible, I decided to insulate our mattress with a sheepskin-fleece-jacket-type material and made a “pillowcase” for the mattress. The fleece cover worked well and also protects the mattress from small thorns or other small sharp objects. On the nights when it was below freezing we just added another fleece blanket over the mattress and we were lovely and warm and so comfortable. When it came time to pack up, we let down the mattress and folded it up with the cover still on it - nice and simple!
Tip for blow up mattresses: do not blow it up too hard. Leaving the
mattress a little softer makes for a far more comfortable night's sleep.
Sleeping bags:
We recently ditched our sleeping bags! We were finding that in summer our sleeping bags were too hot and in winter not warm enough; we also like to zip our sleeping bags together but then the space for the two of us became a bit snug. Since travel space in a car is not an issue, instead of buying new sleeping bags for winter conditions we decided to use our bedding from home. We now use the duvet cover or a sheet in the summer as there is no need for more warm than that and in the winter, we use our duvet and an extra blanket if needed. Since we started using our bedding from home we have been so much more comfortable in both summer and winter.
We recently ditched our sleeping bags! We were finding that in summer our sleeping bags were too hot and in winter not warm enough; we also like to zip our sleeping bags together but then the space for the two of us became a bit snug. Since travel space in a car is not an issue, instead of buying new sleeping bags for winter conditions we decided to use our bedding from home. We now use the duvet cover or a sheet in the summer as there is no need for more warm than that and in the winter, we use our duvet and an extra blanket if needed. Since we started using our bedding from home we have been so much more comfortable in both summer and winter.
There is no need to go out and spend a fortune on camping accessories
when what you already have will do just fine.
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